


Secret Tongues

by chantryscholar



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-15 05:29:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3435269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chantryscholar/pseuds/chantryscholar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fenris finds himself thinking of old habits, old tongues, among Tevinter slaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret Tongues

Old habits die hard for slaves.

Fenris couldn’t read, but he still remembered the old [pictograms](http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_The_Secret_Tongue_of_Slaves) scattered here and there on his old master’s estates. Scratched into the undersides of tables, hidden in a kitchen corner, anywhere that prying eyes might simply pass over, barely paying mind to the other lives their slaves held. As ancient as any building in Tevinter, carrying with it the histories of each slave and their masters, even as the years wore each symbol down. How many had he found while living under Danarius, from slaves long since dead, warning others of the man they called master? Far too many.

_(a clenched fist, danger, a warning to others—here was a cruel man)_

Even now, he knew where to look. Ridiculous, he told himself, waiting impatiently for the Champion to step out, to lead him into whatever mess they planned on getting into next. This was Hawke’s home—the person who tolerated slavers and slavery about as well as he did. Even with Orana in their household, they treated her as Hawke only could. A servant, yes, paid for her work, yes, but still part of the family, as much as the ragged band of misfits they had accumulated over the years. Finding those familiar pictograms was unlikely.

And yet, even as he thought it, his fingers brushed against a mark in the wood, freshly made, the splinters catching along his fingers. Old habits, he reminded himself, taking a quick look to make sure no one was watching. Maker forbid Hawke found him crouching to look under the table, he could just hear the awful joke they could come up with as he made a quick check, half-expecting the worst.

He even allowed a small smile to cross his face before he wiped it clean, the familiar surly look coming over him. The sigils varied from place to place, but this one he knew too well, had scratched it by habit into the door of his own manor. No, not by habit, a grim reminder to himself and to anyone who sought to reclaim the escaped slave. It was one he was glad to see.

_(a snake, its head separated from the body, safety, refuge—the Imperium had no reach here, this was a safe place)_

There was the clamor, Hawke making their appearance, their Mabari barking as loud as their master spoke, filling the air with nonsensical talk as always. They bid goodbye to Bodahn and Sandal and Orana, whose eyes lingered on the Champion, quick to give them a smile as they grabbed Fenris by the shoulders. She was safe, happy, knowing Hawke would take care of her in their own way.

But old habits die hard for slaves.

**Author's Note:**

> The Secret Tongue of Slaves was a codex that immediately grabbed my attention and how it might apply to Fenris, especially with his known illiteracy. Even illiterate slaves find ways to communicate to one another, and I imagine Fenris (and by extension, Orana) would be no different, looking for those symbols or leaving them behind.


End file.
